Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an imaging method of magnetically exciting nuclear spin of a subject placed in a static magnetic field with radio frequency (RF) pulses at the Larmor frequency, and reconstructing an image from a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal generated according to the excitation.
For example, a standardized protocol has been determined for a cardiac testing method with the MRI. In the standardized protocol, for example, determined is a procedure of collecting a multi-slice image (axial multi-slice) including a plurality of transverse sections after collecting a transverse cross-sectional image (axial), a sagittal cross-sectional image (sagittal), and a coronal cross-sectional image (coronal) that are called a scout image (scout) or a locator image (locator), and thereafter, collecting a reference cross-sectional image.
The reference cross-sectional image is a cross-sectional image based on anatomical features of the heart, and examples of the reference cross-sectional image include a left ventricular vertical long-axis image, a left ventricular horizontal long-axis image, a left/right ventricular short-axis image, a left/right ventricular 2-chamber long-axis image, a left/right ventricular 3-chamber long-axis image, a left/right ventricular 4-chamber long-axis image, a left/right ventricular outflow tract image, an aorta valve image, and a pulmonary valve image. A method of setting the reference cross-sectional image is determined for various targets such as a brain, a shoulder, and a knee.